Cindy Henderson
by Joe King
Attendance at two employment fairs that followed on the heels of the Feb. 14 shootings drew large crowds of both students and potential employers.
The Feb. 27 Internship Fair attracted 766 students (up slightly from 750 last year) and 91 employers (down slightly from the 95 of last year). The Educators Fair drew 1,049 students (down from 1,152 in 2007) and 191 employers (the largest turnout since 2001).
“I think this speaks very highly of our students and their tremendous resiliency,” says Cindy Henderson, executive director of the NIU Career Services.
Henderson says attendees at the Internship Fair, held just two days after the resumption of classes, were a bit more tentative than in years past. However, she says, they quickly got into the swing of things with a nudge. Henderson and a number of counselors from Career Services paid special attention, looking for students hanging on the fringes of the event, and took care to introduce them to employers they were interested in meeting.
As for the employers themselves, each was given a letter offering tips on interacting with students. It suggested that they not shy away from discussions of the tragedy, but also be mindful that some students might be sensitive. They asked that employers allow students a bit of extra time to compose answers to questions and made them aware of resources at the fair to help them assist any student who might become emotional.
“The employers were terrific in the way the interacted with the students,” says Henderson, who points out that many of the recruiters at the fair were also NIU alumni who were particularly willing to offer students some support.
Employers she spoke to reported that the vast majority of students handled themselves well, and gave them the same high marks as recruiters from past fairs.
Follow-up interviews with employers found that more than 90 percent considered the fair a good way to find future employees, and 85 percent said they planned to hire anywhere from 1 to 7 employees they met at the event.
The Educators Fair, which was held Feb. 25, was also a big success, drawing just a few less students than last year. Most of those students, Henderson says, were in the midst of student-teaching and not on campus Feb. 14.
Career Services will hold its annual Spring Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 19. Despite the having to reschedule the event from the original date of Feb. 20, only 20 potential employers had to drop out.